Candidate Spotlight

With this posting, I am introducing a new feature that I will offer sporadically to readers of this Blog. As an executive recruiter, I am blessed to be in a position to meet some extraordinarily gifted women and men who function as senior executives in a variety of industries. The common thread among these leaders is that they are broadly educated – often “Renaissance Souls” – and they perform their leadership functions from a solid ethical base of integrity, accountability, fairness and a commitment to excellence.

When I become aware that one of these extraordinary leaders is ready to transition to a new opportunity, I will make my community of Blog readers aware of this candidate’s value proposition. This approach to executive placement is one of my differentiators. Like most other recruiters who work with senior executives, I welcome the opportunity to perform retained searches for client companies. This is the bread and butter of most executive search practices.

But I do not limit my approach to this traditional methodology. I have also been successful in presenting uniquely gifted candidates to companies – even before the company knew they had a need for such a person. As an example, I introduced to Lucent Technologies the person around whom they eventually created the position of Vice President of Homeland Security and Government Strategy. (I am often asked how the economics of such a non-traditional placement works. The simple answer is that when the client company hires a candidate that I have introduced to them in this “backwards” way, I am compensated at the traditional rate by the company as if they had retained me to fill this executive level position.)

In introducing this occasional “Candidate Spotlight” feature to the Blog, it is my expectation that there will be some readers who may be aware of companies that are in need of the kind of talent embodied in the candidate(s) I describe. You may be a Board member, employee or advisor to a company that could use these skills. If this is the case, please e-mail me (achase@scwellesley.com) so that we can discuss the best way to approach the company that has the need.

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Experienced CEO/COO – Telecom, software development, IT, professional services, medical devices – ready to grow a successful company to the next level, or turn around a company facing difficult challenges.

This candidate is a seasoned veteran of AT&T, Lucent Technologies and an e-commerce start-up. He has overseen the acquisition and post-merger integration of a $1.5 billion company into the larger enterprise. While he has succeeded at the highest levels in Fortune 50 companies, it is his desire to be in a hands-on operating role in a growing small to mid-sized firm to provide operational expertise to scale, where his entrepreneurial skills and passions can be fully realized. These skills would also be well utilized in running a Divison of a large enterprise.

This gentleman is one of the finest human beings I have been privileged to get to know. He engenders loyalty and elicits peak performance from his team members, and is a brilliant and a consummate “out of the box” thinker.

The best fit for the next step in his career would be an operating role (CEO, COO or GM) in a venture-backed portfolio company, an acquisition target by a leveraged buyout firm, or a turn-around situation. His broad experiences set him up to help grow companies in such industries as telecom, software development, IT, professional services, medical devices, and any other setting that needs a leader who can help a company respond to rapidly evolving challenges in a volatile market.

In response to my request that he describe himself ina one minute elevator speech, the candidate replied:

"I have over 23 years of global general management experience. I am a results driven leader who enjoys developing and executing focused strategies, creates environment where innovation and teamwork flourish, and has passion to negotiate and solve problems of conceptual and interpersonal nature. As a result, I have added $300M to the bottom line in less than 3 years by leading business transformation efforts and grew $200M revenue in 18 months by positioning firm as a major player in billing and customer care software market."

Resume is available upon request.

Al Chase